Tunable macroscale structural superlubricity in two-layer graphene via strain engineering

Abstract

Achieving structural superlubricity in graphitic samples of macro-scale size is particularly challenging due to difficulties in sliding large contact areas of commensurate stacking domains. Here, we show the presence of macro-scale structural superlubricity between two randomly stacked graphene layers produced by both mechanical exfoliation and CVD. By measuring the shifts of Raman peaks under strain we estimate the values of frictional interlayer shear stress (ILSS) in the superlubricity regime (mm scale) under ambient conditions. The random incommensurate stacking, the presence of wrinkles and the mismatch in the lattice constant between two graphene layers induced by the tensile strain differential are considered responsible for the facile shearing at the macroscale. Furthermore, molecular dynamic simulations show that the stick-slip behaviour does not hold for achiral shearing directions for which the ILSS decreases substantially, supporting the experimental observations. Our results pave the way for overcoming several limitations in achieving macroscale superlubricity in graphene.

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Cited by in corpus (11)

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• An atomistic insight into moiré reconstruction in Twisted Bilayer Graphene beyond the magic angle
• Chemifriction and Superlubricity: Friends or Foes?
• Frictionless nanohighways on crystalline surfaces
• Interlayer electric multipoles induced by in-plane field from quantum geometric origins
• Evidence of directional structural superlubricity and Lévy flights in a van der Waals heterostructure
• Interlayer interaction, shear vibrational mode, and tribological properties of two-dimensional bilayers with a commensurate moiré pattern
• Quantifying superlubricity of bilayer graphene from the mobility of interface dislocations
• Programming frictionless interfaces for moiré layers
• Restriction of macroscopic structural superlubricity due to structure relaxation by the example of twisted graphene bilayer
• Strain-induced stacking transition in bilayer graphene